Luke 22:47-53

Butler's Comments

SECTION 4

Condescension (Luke 22:47-53)

47 While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him; 48but Jesus said to him, Judas, would you betray the Son of man with a kiss? 49And when those who were about him saw what would follow, they said, Lord, shall we strike with the sword? 50And one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. 51But Jesus said, No more of this! And he touched his ear and healed him. 52Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? 53When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.

Luke 22:47-51 Conspirator: Jesus knew all along that Judas Iscariot would conspire with His enemies to betray Him in some secret place, away from the multitudes. Three other gospel accounts combine to document the careful preparations by His enemies to arrest Him; (cf. John 18:1-12; Matthew 26:47-56; Mark 14:43-52):

a.

Soldiers, Temple police and a great crowd armed with clubs and swords to take care of any resistance whether by Jesus-' disciples or some wonder He might perform.

b.

Having soldiers along gives the incident a seal of legality.

c.

Torches were carried to light the way and to search the dark corners of the garden.

d.

Cords or chains were brought to bind the prisoner lest He over power them (a crowd with swords and clubs?).

e.

A guide to direct them to the place where He might be found away from the multitudes in the person of one of His disciples.

f.

A pre-arranged sign of betrayal which hopefully would catch the victim unawares, an embrace!

g.

Priests, officers and elders led a huge mob to make sure that previous failures are not repeated (cf. John 7:32; John 7:40-44; Luke 22:52).

h.

The High Priest remained in his palace rehearsing bribed witnesses in what they must say to make the false accusations sound legal (cf. Matthew 26:59).

We are also indebted to these other three gospel accounts for a harmonization of the order of events at the arrest. Luke has the briefer account and omits some of the details included by the others. The order of events are:

a.

As Jesus was rousing the apostles from sleep the great crowd entered the garden (Matthew 26:47; Mark 14:43; Luke 22:47).

b.

They were being led by Judas Iscariot and searching for Jesus.

c.

Jesus stepped forward asking, Whom do you seek? When they said, Jesus of Nazareth, He replied, I, even I am He! (John 18:4-5).

d.

Taken completely by surprise and half afraid He might do a miracle, those in front stumbled backward and some fell down. The mob was not prepared for such awesome honesty and docility (John 18:5-6). There is no indication in any text that Jesus caused these people to fall miraculously. They went out to slip up on Him, knowing they were being led by a traitor, and they were completely surprised and shamed and so, stumbled backward over one another!

e.

Jesus surrenders Himself and requests that His disciples be allowed to go away from (Gr. hupagein) the same fate (John 18:8-9). Apparently the mob, at first, honored Jesus-' request for the disciples, but later (Mark 14:51-52) tried to seize one of His followers.

f.

Then Judas confirms Jesus-' identity with the pre-arranged signthe embrace (Gr. katephilesen, effusive embracing Matthew 26:49; Mark 14:45), and said, Hail, Rabbi! Jesus answered, Friend (Gr. hetaire, Comrade) why are you here? Jesus is reminding Judas of the baseness of betraying comradeship (Matthew 26:48-50; Mark 14:44-46; Luke 22:47-48).

g.

The soldiers came and threw (Gr. epebalon) hands upon Jesus and seized Him. It was a scene of rough, coarse and violent action.

There has been no warrant presented for Jesus-' arrest, sworn to by witnesses. There has been no inquiring diligently (cf. Deuteronomy 17:2-5; Leviticus 5:1) into the accusations of blasphemy made about Jesus prior to His arrest. All this, instigated by the priests and Pharisees, has been done illegally.

Luke records that Jesus-' apostles asked if they should fight with the swords (Gr. machaire, short, dagger-type sword, copied by the Romans from the Greeks) they had. Peter did not ask (Matthew 26:51; Mark 14:47; John 18:10), but drew his sword and struck a servant of the High Priest, named Malchus, and cut off his right ear. Since Peter was not defending himself or the other apostles, Jesus told him to put up his sword because taking the law into one's own hands (without due process) leads to anarchy. Force is self-destructive. The only kingdom that lasts will be the one of love and persuasion. The cup which the Father gave, Jesus must drink. Peter's action is at variance with God's will (John 18:11). The world must know that His kingdom is not of this world. If Jesus had wished to defend Himself He could have called thousands of angels (Matthew 26:53). What was happening, Jesus declared, was in perfect agreement with the Old Testament prophets concerning the Messiah (cf. Matthew 26:54; Psalms 22:1-31; Isaiah 53:1-12, et al.).

Luke alone tells us that Jesus healed the servant's severed ear (Luke 22:51). The Greek phrase here translated, No more of this! might literally be rendered, Allow ye it thus far.. meaning, probably, Let me reach far enough to touch his ear. Thus is documented clearly one healing by Jesus where there is a definite absence of faith in Him, and no indication that Jesus tried to elicit faith from the one healed. Jesus could heal even the enemies of the faith. His mercy and compassion probably squelched what might have quickly turned into a bloody riot.

Luke 22:52-53 Cowards: Luke notes that the chief priests and captains of the temple and elders were among this illegally operating gang of people. Jesus rebuked and shamed the mob for treating Him as if He were a gangster or highway robber (Gr. lesten, from the root word leia, booty and different from the word kleptes, thief). He had always taught peace and had never done anything criminal (in fact He tried to clean the criminals out of the Temple). They had plenty of opportunities to see His conduct and know that He was not a violent man (like Barabbas, Luke 23:18-19).

They could have arrested Him in the Temple. But they were cowards. They had been afraid to take Him while the multitudes thronged about Him. The multitudes knew He was innocent and they would have attacked these chief priests and elders had they tried it then. Cowards and criminals operate in the darkness. They must have the protection of night and falsehood. God is allowing the power of darkness to have its hour and now it has come. Satan, and all those aligned with him, are to be allowed to exercise the ultimate wickedness. But the forces of darkness are to be cast out and judged (cf. John 12:31; John 16:11).

The apostles all forsook (Gr. aphentes, took off, pardoned, excused) Him and fled (Gr. ephugon, shrank away from with aloofness, shunned) from Him (Matthew 26:56; Mark 14:50). We repeat, the apostles were not cowards. They wanted to fight for Him. But they were unwilling to share in His humiliation. Awakened by the noise, a young man (perhaps John Mark) leaped out of bed, covered only by a bed sheet, and ran after the mob taking Jesus prisoner (Mark 14:51-52). The mob then tried to take prisoner this follower of Jesus.

Applebury's Comments

The Traitor's Kiss
Scripture

Luke 22:47-53 While he yet spake, behold, a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them; and he drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. 48 But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss? 49 And when they that were about him saw what would follow, they said, Lord, shall we smite with the sword? 50 And a certain one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and struck off his right ear. 51 But Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye them thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him. 52 And Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and elders, that were come against him, Are ye come out, as against a robber, with swords and staves? 53 When I was daily with you in the temple, yet stretched not forth your hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness.

Comments

Judas, one of the twelve.The Satan-inspired traitor saluted Jesus with a kiss of friendship, little aware of the fact that Jesus knew exactly what he was up to. Jesus challenged him saying, Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss? The little band of disciples drew close to Jesus, as if to protect Him. One of themJohn says it was Peterdrew his sword and struck a blow in what he thought was in the defense of his Lord. All that he did was to strike off the ear of the high priest's servant. Jesus touched the ear of the high priest's servant and healed him.

Jesus had permitted them to go this far. They could arrest Him; they could sentence Him to death; they could nail Him to the cross; but they could not keep Him from arising from the dead. He turned to the captains of the temple and the chief priest and challenged them with these words, Are you come out as against a robber with swords and with staves? He reminded them that He had taught openly in their temple but they had not dared to touch Him. In the garden they were made bold by Satan whose strength was the power of darkness.